The website of the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation was created five years ago. This is the Foundation’s fifth annual report presented on the birthday of Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller, the creator of TRIZ...
ALTSHULLER’S ANNIVERSARY: THE POSITION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS
2006 is the 80th anniversary year of the birth of Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller, the creator of TRIZ-CID-LSCP (15.10.1926 - 24.09.1998).
This year, the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation (whose staff were members of Altshuller’s family and were both witnessing and contributing to the TRIZ movement for several decades) reviews the accomplished work and outlines perspectives for further developments.
1. It is well known that in the period 1956-1986, TRIZ was developing and spreading at high pace. Such tools, concepts and methods as the inventive principles, ARIZ, the course on creative imagination development (CID), the Index of Sci-Fi Ideas and Situations, the laws of technological system evolution, the Life Strategy of a Creative Person (LSCP) were introduced during that period, while ten Altshuller’s books were published (total circulation – over 1 million copies), and some two hundred TRIZ centers were founded. Various public organizations offered seminars on TRIZ. TRIZ schools were established at large industrial firms (e.g., at Uralmash, the Kirov Plant, the Rostov Helicopter Plant, Electrosila, among others), at R&D enterprises (e.g., at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna). Various organizations for advanced professional development offered training in TRIZ.
G.S. Altshuller’s bibliography contains over 500 books and articles.
In summary, this period of TRIZ evolution was characterized by:
а)
Free exchange of information on theoretical and applied aspects of TRIZ and allied disciplines
b)
Cooperation in conducting theoretical and applied research projects
c)
Organizing various (both official and otherwise) scientific conferences.
2. By the mid-1980’s, Altshuller’s health started to rapidly deteriorate. As the demolition of the USSR began, many TRIZ theorists and practitioners left the country for good.
3. Association TRIZ was founded by the initiative of some TRIZ specialists (not by Altshuller’s, as it should be noted).
4. The present period of TRIZ development is characterized by the following negative tendencies:
Tendency 1: There are cases when basic works of G.S. Altshuller and of some other TRIZ experts are illicitly translated and circulated (i.e., without obtaining permission from the copyright owners).
Tendency 2: Some works on TRIZ are published and used in a distorted form (often, with “comments” by nonprofessionals), which misleads the readers.
Tendency -3: The quality of new TRIZ developments has plunged, and the information exchange among TRIZ specialists has dramatically declined.
Tendency 4: Very few young TRIZ specialists turn into original theorists.
Tendency -5: Despite the adoption of TRIZ by a number of leading corporations both in Russia and globally, the quality of TRIZ implementations (as well as their quantity) could have been much higher.
Tendency 6: Many new TRIZ specialists (especially outside Russia) are not familiar with G.S. Altshuller’s works.
It is worth mentioning that dissemination of TRIZ outside Russia follows the patterns similar to those in the former USSR. For example, judging by the available publications, the inventive principles appear to be the most widely adopted tool of TRIZ. Other tools, for instance, the laws of technological system evolution, are not being used – not because they are difficult (they are not), but because of the triviality of research topics and problems being solved, and because of the fashion.
5. In response to these tendencies and in total accordance with the viewpoints of the first TRIZ developer, the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation has taken the following steps:
- Prevented trademark registration of the words ТРИЗ and TRIZ (that shameful attempt will become part of the history of TRIZ).
- Released a free e-book “Introduction to TRIZ: The Main Concepts and Approaches,” http://www.altshuller.ru/e-books (in Russian)
6. In anticipation of the upcoming Altshuller’s anniversary, the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation declares the following:
a)
Further development of TRIZ is impossible without adopting a civilized attitude toward the intellectual property of G.S. Altshuller and other developers of TRIZ. This is not a sufficient but a necessary condition. Violations of intellectual property rights affect all parties: those interested in TRIZ as well as TRIZ consultants and educators do not receive the latest information.
b)
The following is required to ensure further development of TRIZ:
- Solid knowledge of the original publications on TRIZ-CDI (Development of creative imagination) -TCLS (Theory of Creative Life Strategy)
- Compliance of new research topics with the demanding criteria formulated by G.S. Altshuller (see the following chapters in the e-book:
Conducting new research projects in TRIZ
How to present the results of new research in TRIZ
Evaluation of new developments in TRIZ)
- Setting high research goals.
7. And the last…
G.S. Altshuller always maintained an ironic attitude toward his own anniversaries and asked no to “arrange any kurultais (parties).” The best celebration of the approaching anniversary would be new, high-quality works in TRIZ, CID, and particularly, in LSCP, as well as new releases of Altshuller’s books and translations of his works into foreign languages.
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation
OFFICIAL G.S. ALTSHULLER FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT
October 15, 2005 is the second anniversary of the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation’s Web site. This site was opened on G.S. Altshuller’s birthday in 2003.
In its second year, the website has had over 100,000 visits from 108 countries. The total number of visits since October 15, 2003, has reached over 180,000.
In the same period, there have been over 27,500 downloads of the e-book, “Introduction to TRIZ: The Main Concepts and Approaches,”from one server only (in Russian), not counting downloads from other servers. The total number of downloads throughout the two-year period has exceeded 50,000.
The mission of the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation is to foster a free dissemination of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) – in accordance with the will of its first architect, G.S. Altshuller.
To achieve this goal, the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation provides an open access to the original works in TRIZ.
1. Over 490 works of both G.S. Altshuller and V.N. Zhuravleva have been published on this site. These include some not yet well-known and never-published works on TRIZ, RTV (Development of creative imagination), TRTL (Theory of Creative Life Strategy), sci-fi stories, children’s stories, as well as letters, photographs, video- and audio clips.
Thus, in the site’s second year, the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation has published over 300 documents there.
2. The site has begun to provide an opportunity to learn TRIZ online.
The following educational materials are presently available:
Now, TRIZ practitioners and researchers have an opportunity to trace the logic of evolution of ARIZ. This effort will continue.
4. The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation strives to eliminate any obstacles to a free use of TRIZ.
4.1.As is well known the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation has prevented a pirate attempt to monopolize the abbreviation ТРИЗ/TRIZ. The Foundation states once more that the organization which has made that attempt has never received any rights on G.S. Altshuller’s works.
4.2. By making TRIZ/ТРИЗ available to everybody, the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation follows the principle that respectable individuals and organizations should prove their worth through their real achievements, and not through “certificates,” “diploma,” and other illicit documents.
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation will not cease to propagate this idea.
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation thanks from the bottom of our hearts all the colleagues who during that difficult year stood for Altshuller’s cause and supported Valentina Nikolaevna Zhuravleva in her quest to cancel this trademark.
Special thanks go to Igor Leonardovich Vikentiev, Sergey Valerievich Sychyov, Vadim Valerievich Uskov, the consulting companies TRIZ-CHANCE, Sychyov and Co, Ltd., the law firm USKOV and Partners, for their moral and active support, for the great deal of hard yet necessary efforts they made and for representing the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation at the Patent Disputes Board’s meetings.
5. Over the last year, the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation has participated in the Fifth International Conference on Mechanisms of the Introduction of New Science and Technology Trends into Education Systems, held in Moscow on October 18-20, 2004.
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation has published the following works (in Russian):
Komarcheva, L.D., “Preparation of TRIZ Instructors,” in the Proceedings “How to Develop and Advance a New Business or a Business Seminar,” 2nd Conference of the St. Petersburg Club of Consultants and Instructors.
6. The projects of the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation:
A comprehensive survey of leading TRIZ specialists has been conducted within the framework of a project, TRIZ as an Emergent Science. Some 60 TRIZ specialists from 14 countries participated in the survey. Several hundred pages of answers as well as several hundred pages of various works on TRIZ (both of applied and theoretical natures) have been received.
We are grateful to all the participants.
7 open Internet-surveys on various aspects of TRIZ have been conducted among the site visitors. The results of these surveys are published at http://www.altshuller.ru/vote. (in Russian).
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation has continued its effort to translate the main TRIZ terminology to the world’s languages. At present, 89 TRIZ terms have been translated to11 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Vietnamese, and Chinese.
V. Fey (USA), М. Barkan (USA), А. Lubomirsky (USA), Z. Royzen (USA), А. Zakharov (USA), S.V. Kozlovsky (Belarus), V.A. Lopan (Belarus), S. Sladkov (Germany), Horst Nahler (Germany), Bernward Kahmann (Germany), T. Zagorodnova (Argentine), Juan Carlos Nishiyama (Argentine), Carlos Eduardo Requena (Argentine), Eduardo Cordova Lopez (Mexico), A. Seredinsky (France), Bohuslav Bushov (Czech Republic), V. Dostal (Czech Republic), S.E. Aleksandrov (Belarus), Marco Aurelio de Carvalho (Brasil), Phan Dung (Vietnam), O.I. Deinega (Ukraine), Massimiliano Cannatello, Gaetano Cascini, Pierluigi Petrali, Daniele Regazzoni, Caterina Rizzi (all from Italy), Hyman Duan (China), and Alp Lin (China).
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation continues the translation of other TRIZ materials to English, German, French, and Spanish.
Richard Langevin (USA) – for his help in editing a number of English translations
Victor Fey (USA) – for translating some of the materials to English
Tatyana Zagoronova (Argentine), Juan Carlos Nishiyama (Argentine), Carlos Eduardo Requena (Argentine) и Jérôme Laforcade (France) for translating a number of materials to Spanish and French, respectively.
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation is grateful to Sychyov and Co, Ltd., and to TRIZ-CHANCE for providing the technical support. Also, we want to individually express our gratitude to the following colleagues:
This 300 page book is a compilation of 7 fantasy stories written by Genrikh Altshuller and Valentina Zhuravlyova, with some exquisite pictures of Genrikh and Valentina from the Official Altshuller foundation. This new publication is available from the General Store of the Altshuller Institute We hope that this project will introduce TRIZ to a new audience and bring some new material to the current TRIZ community.
THE CORPORATE WAY FROM IDEAS TO INNOVATION
4th European TRIZ-Conference/QFD-Symposium in Frankfurt/Main (Germany) June 29 – July 01 2005
The skill to create effective innovations and the skill to master them promptly are prerequisites for corporate and personal success in a global and competitive market. Today becomes increasingly important not only to generate new ideas, but also to turn them into successful products and processes. That is why creativity and creative problem solving should be made accessible both for formalization and learning to everybody.
The most successful and best known framework for creative problem solving is the so called TRIZ (Teorija Rešenija lzobretatel‘skich Zadac), the author G.S. Altshuller (www.altshuller.ru).
TRIZ has achieved world wide recognition, materials on TRIZ and information about extensive areas of application of TRIZ served as the basis for carrying out the European TRIZ Conference, which is held by now for the forth time.
The Conference is aimed at persons in charge and people engaged into research and development work, design, IT elaborations, marketing and sales, quality management as well as innovation- and knowledge-management.
Two days of the Conference will be given up to reports. They will be accompanied by tutorials both for TRIZ beginners and advanced TRIZ users.
This conference is presented to you by:
IHK-Innovationsberatung Hessen,
Technologietransfer Netzwerk Hessen,
European TRIZ-Center for Innovative Problem Solving e.V.
Internet portal TRIZ-online.
Cooperating partners are:
QFD Institut Deutschland e.V.,
Symposium Publishing and VW (Volkswagen) Coaching.
More information and invitation flyer can be found at www.triz-online.de
The trademark "ТРИЗ TRIZ" was abolished by the Board for Patent Disputes on Trademark "ТРИЗ TRIZ" (certificate of registration No. 251307), previously registered in the name of public association "MATRIZ" (International TRIZ Association), Petrozavodsk, Russia (President Rubin M.S.) is abolished.
The decision was made on December 8, 2004 by the "Board for Patent Disputes of the Federal Executive Agency for intellectual property of Russian Federation". The decision was made based on an Objection against protection...
"You see," she said, "any discovery seems simple and understandable once it has been made. Just think about it. Let’s suppose that Procyon has a planetary system of its own. Let’s suppose that reasoning creatures on one of the planets have decided to send out signals into space. Radio waves are useless: they disperse too easily. Nor can gamma or X-rays be used — they are quickly absorbed...
The website hosts 196 works by Altshuller and Zhuravleva, some of which are not very known and even unpublished materials. A new section "For Students, Teachers and Parents" (in Russian), has been opened where Altshuller’s works about teaching TRIZ to children are presented. The Althsuller’s Science-Fiction Register (in Russian) was published for the first time on the website.
The Official Altshuller Foundation took part in the following:
The International Conference "Information-Communication-Society" on the 11-12th of November 2003,
The "V International Congress of marketing, advertisement and PR" on the 23-29 of November 2003,
The 4-th International Conference "Management of the XXI century: quality problems" on the 15-16 of April 2004.
On February 25, 2004, Valentina Nikolaevna Zhuravleva and Juna Evgenievna Komarcheva filed a complaint against the issue of the TRIZ trademark with the Patent Dispute Chamber (PDC) of the Russian Federal Intellectual Property Administration. The next meeting in PDC will be on 11 of November 2004.
Projects of the Official Altshuller Foundation:
Russian language reprint of "Creativity as an exact science",
Creation of "The multi-lingual TRIZ-terminology". Now there are translations to English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Vietnamese and Italian languages,
Update of English, German, French and Spanish pages - some Altshuller’s and Zhuravleva’s works are available there in these languages.
The Official Altshuller Foundation thanks colleagues for the participation in the translating of TRIZ-terminology: V. Fey; M. Barkan, A. Lyubomirsky, Z. Royzen, A. Zakharov, S.V. Kozlovsky, V.A. Lopan; Semen Sladkov; Horst Nahler; Bernward Kahmann, Tatyana Zagorodnova, Juan Carlos Nishiyama, Carlos Eduardo Requena, A.Seredinski, Bohuslav Bushov; V. Dostal; S. E. Aleksandrov, Marco Aurelio de Carvalho, Phan Dung, S. E. Aleksandrov, O. Dejnega, Massimiliano Cannatello, Gaetano Cascini, Pierluigi Petrali, Daniele Regazzoni, Caterina Rizzi.
The Official Altshuller Foundation thanks Richard Langevin (USA) and Igor Vertkin (GB) for the help in edition some translations and Jose M. Vicente Gomila for the discussion of the translation.
A technical System is similar to an orchestra of musicians. It is as good as the synchronized play of the musicians. Therefore, the inventor’s effort in the beginning should be concentrated on finding the right formula for the System, the best combination of its parts. This is how the First Period in the life of a System starts.
V. Zhuravleva’s story "Stone From the Stars" treats of bio-automatons. The problem posed is "to synthesize the highest forms of biological matter, learn to control electronic processes and induce living and non-living matter to work together. The story is about a bio-automaton serving as the "brain" of a space ship in which "living cells take the place of electronic tubes."
The battles considered the greatest have long ago ceased to have an affect on history. Octavian Augustus destroyed Mark Anthony’s fleet at Actium; for how long have we felt the results of this battle? Cervantes lost a hand in the battle for Lepanto. You remember with whom he was fighting and how it ended?.. And Don Quixote helps those trying to do something impossible even today. He has a share in every victory. The practical reimbursement will be felt even longer…
A new section has opened on our site, "TRIZ terms in the Languages of the Peoples of the World" , where a number of translations of TRIZ / TRIZ terms have already been published in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech and Vietnamese. New translations will be added to this section in the near future.
Discussion of the translation of some of the terms has started at the TRIZ-Forum:
Those interested in suggesting their translation ideas may send their suggestions to the address of the Official G.S.Altshuller Foundation: e-mail: foundation@altshuller.ru (please do not forget to include the term’s index number when you do this).
The Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation would like to express its thanks to all Colleagues who participated in this arduous but necessary project.
This press release may be reprinted, without restrictions, in any media, on websites and via e-mailings.
The official site of the G.S. Altshuller Foundation has been launched 15 October 2003. The official website of Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller - the first proponent of TRIZ-RTV-TRTL theory - was launched today, on the anniversary of his birthday, at the address www.altshuller.ru. The website includes...
The Foundation was created on the basis of the archives - compiled over a period of nearly 50 years - of Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller (15 October 1926 - 24 September 1998). This unique collection includes published and unpublished works, card indices of scientific and historical data, correspondence with colleagues, opponents and organizations, and much more...
E-BOOK "INTRODUCTION TO TRIZ. BASIC CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES" (THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE G.S. ALTSHULLER FOUNDATION) You can download the e-book "Introduction to TRIZ: Basic Concepts and Approaches" (in Russian), Version 1.02. The file is approximately 2.3 megabytes...
Genrikh Altshuller developed the 40 Principles about 30 years ago. He reviewed thousands of wordwide patents selected specifically from leading industries for the inventive nature of their solutions to technical comtradictions.
(…)The first standards have been found empirically: some combinatic of techniques and physical effects were of a such frequent practical use and produced so potent solutions that an idea was suggested itself to convert them into standards. Thus, standards are rules of synthesis and transformation of technical systems directly resulting from laws for development of these systems.
(…) I do not wish to suggest that the four-level model is the most important or only avenue open to the development of new SF ideas. Probably several such lines of logic exist: probably there exist devices for coming upon "iso-level" ideas, and some complex, only very vaguely known mechanism that facilitates’the interaction of "technical matter" and "study of man." All this is material for future research.
(...) Analysis of the patent fund shows that a higher degree of ideal state of technical systems is a general rule, although a transfer of the function is not the only way to reach it. This conclusion could be a beginning of scientific technology applied for solving inventive problems: if one rule has bean found, other rules may be discovered as well...
Work on creating a scientific theory of solving inventive problems was begun in 1946 by the author of this study. From the very beginning the research was directed towards discovery of the objective laws of the development of technological systems, and not towards examination of the secondary and outward symptoms of creativity: "revelation", "inspiration" etc.
The inventor’s problem is often confused with problems of technology, engineering or design. Building a normal house, having readymade blueprints and calculations is a technical problem. Making the calculations for a normal bridge, making using of available formulae is a matter for engineers. Designing a comfortable and cheap bus, finding a compromise between ’comfortable’ and ’cheap’ is a designer’s business. In solving these problems one does not have to overcome any contradictions. The problem becomes that of an inventor only in the event that contradictions have to be overcome for its solution.
In an easiest way standards can be applied individually (not in a system). When using standards(or after 3-4- time reading a text) many standards are remembered and while getting know a problem a required standard involuntary comes to a mind. Of course this is not the best method of their application…
(…) The scientific approach to the study of the inventor’s art begins with grasping the simple truth that problems are various and can never be studied "in toto". There are some very simple problems which are susceptible to solution after a few trials...
This 300 page book is a compilation of 7 fantasy stories written by Genrikh Altshuller and Valentina Zhuravlyova, with some exquisite pictures of Genrikh and Valentina from the 
), China.